Degree Plan Advice Needed

[jnewton]

I am more than likely going to spend the $80 to see if this will work, but i know there is enough experience in this forum to give me an idea if so.
I am 39 and have to get a degree fast and as affordable as possible. I've already started testing and I think this degree plan may work for me. Constructive critics welcome. Please advise.

Can any of the 30 Upper Level Come from the Applied Professional Section or must they all be Arts & Science? I like some of them better than the selections in the Arts Section


6 Cr - ECE - College Composition - WER

Humanities (9 Required)
6 LL - CLEP - Analyzing & Interpreting Lit
3 LL - DSST - Arts of the Western World

Social Sciences/History (9 Required)
3 LL - CLEP - Intro Sociology - (Depth 1)
3 LL - DSST - Intro To Law Enforcement - (Depth 1) - done
3 LL - DSST - Fund. of Counseling - (Depth 1)
3 UL - DSST - Criminal Justice - (Depth 1)

Natural Sciences/Mathematics (9 Required)
3 LL - DSST - Principals of Physical Science
3 LL - DSST - Fund of College Algebra
3 LL - DSST - Environment & Humanity

33 LL - GEN ED
3 UL -

Arts & Science Electives (24 Credits)
3 LL - CLEP - US History I
3 LL - CLEP - US History II - done
3 LL - CLEP - American Gov
3 LL - CLEP - West Civ I
3 LL - CLEP - West Civ II
6 LL - CLEP - Humanities
3 LL - DSST - Lifespan Developmental Psychology

Remaining Upper Level (27 Credits)
3 UL - DSST - Civil War & Reconstruction -
3 UL - DSST - Money & Banking
3 UL - DSST - Rise & fall of the Soviet Union
3 UL - DSST - Business Ethics & Society
3 UL - DSST - Ethics In America
3 UL - DSST - Intro to World Religions
3 UL - ECE - Human Resources Management (Depth 2)
3 UL - ECE - Labor Relations (Depth 2)
3 UL - ECE - Organizational Behavior (Depth 2)

Applied Professional Credits or Additional Arts & Sciences (30 Credits)
3 LL - CLEP - Business Law
3 UL - DSST - Business Law II
3 LL - DSST - Info Systems & Comp Application - done
3 LL - DSST - Principles of Supervision (Depth 2)
3 LL - DSST - Principles of Public Speaking
3 LL - DSST - Personal Finance
3 LL - CLEP - Principles of Marketing
3 LL - DSST - Intro to Computing
3 UL - DSST - Here's To Your Health
3 LL - DSST - Principles of Public Speaking

3 LL - Excelsior - Capstone
1 LL - Excelsior - Information Literacy Requirement.

This would put me at 121 and I am fairly confident I can do this pretty fast.

Do you guys recommend taking the exams and then enrolling or enrolling and then taking the exams? Thanks for any advice.

[dewisant]

You missed the CLEP Generals. Excelsior accepts all except the English relateds. That's good for 6 credits each, and a total of 24. You can take a large number, about 60+ credits or more, without signing up with a college, but it is to your benefit to know what the intended colleges require. Lawrie Miller's BA in 4 Weeks. Online degrees by distance learning. BA degree and graduate degees - Accelerated Master Degrees by Distance Learning. is a good resource. A BSL is the easiest and most flexible degree there is. The BAL has the required A&S minimums. You can download many documents from Excelsior like Credit by Exam and the Liberal Arts catalog.

[jnewton]

And yes....I am switching a making a plan now for the BSLS. It seems much more flexible. Thanks for the feedback.

[NAP]

It looks like you are understanding this process pretty well. Changing to a BSLS will add flexibility. Dewisant's suggestion is a great one to use - CLEP Generals means the 6 credit exams.

Do you have a lot of previous credits for them to evaluate? If not, read this thread:

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...rting.html

Be sure to count the capstone as UL. With change to BS, you can cut back on some of your planned UL exams and add more LL. Just be sure that you only have a maximum of 9 UL Applied Professional in your 30 UL plan. (The ECE business exams and the law enforcement exam are AP.) You have speech listed twice.

Planning a Criminal Justice depth may be tricky because sometimes CJ is Social Science and other times it is Applied Professional. My theory is that if it is in the list for the major, it should count toward a depth. You'll need to work that out with them.

On the other hand, I see a history depth and probably a business depth in your plan already. Depths are just to meet a standard set by the school. They will not be listed on your transcript, like an Area of Focus (minor) or Major would be.

Consider more math, like the College Math CLEP or ALEKS. You can have 9 credits below calculus, plus stats (ALEKS is 3 UL).

You are doing great with this! Keep asking questions, if you need to.

[dewisant]

I think there is a second question here. These tests cover the most common, basic and general knowledge C/T all of the disciplines, The CLEP Generals are: Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science/History, and College Math. When I did the first 3 I took 2 different CLEP books (Barrons and Princeton Review) and circled all of the correct answers. I then read ONLY question & right answer, over & over until I got tired for one test after another. I read/studied 2 days for Social Science/History, 3 weeks for Humaities, and a month for Natural Sciences. InstantCert and Wiki didn't exist then. Also, do you have ANY transcripts from the military, vocational school, working for/in a business, in essence any prior learning experience that can match up to ACE credits? Get it together so you can send that too.

[jnewton]

You guys are awesome with the feedback. I attended police academy in 2009 for 408 hours---it was a state certified basic course. I will have them evaluate it but I did come up with a new plan for the BSLS and I included the Generals. That will cut down on some cost and time. I appreciate the suggestions. I started last month after a buddy of mine told he just finished his degree. I want to go to law school after this, and I want to complete this in 12 months. I know that is a lot of pressure, but I think I can do it. We are taking bets at work whether I can or not--so here goes!!!


Here is the new plan....Please give it one more look:


I. Written English Requirement (6)
6 LL ECE- College Composition-

II. Humanities (9)
6 LL - CLEP - Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
3 LL - DSST* - Art of the Western World

III. Social Science/History (9)
6 LL - CLEP - Social Sciences and History
3 LL - CLEP - Introductory Sociology

IV. Natural Sciences/Mathematics (9)
6 LL - CLEP - Natural Sciences
3 LL - Fundamentals of College Algebra

V. Additional Arts & Sciences Elective (24) - 21 Must Be At Upper Level
3 UL - DSST*+ - Civil War & Reconstruction
3 UL - DSST - Criminal Justice
3 UL - DSST - Business Ethics & Society
3 UL - ECE*++ - Human Resource Management
3 UL - ECE*++ - Labor Relations
3 UL - ECE*++ - Organizational Behavior
3 UL - DSST* - Money & Banking
3 LL - DSST - Lifespan Development Psychology

VI. Capstone Requirement
3 UL - Excelsior Capstone Requirement

Total Arts & Science Requirement: 60 Credits

VII. Applied Professional Credit or Additional Art & Science (59) -9 Must Be Upper Level

3 UL - DSST*+ - Rise & fall of the Soviet Union
3 LL - DSST* - A History of the Vietnam War
3 LL - CLEP+ - US History I
3 LL - CLEP+ - US History II (Done April 3)
3 LL - CLEP - American Government
3 LL - DSST* Introduction to Law Enforcement (Done April 3)

3 LL - DSST++ - Principles of Supervision
3 LL - DSST - Principle of Public Speaking

3 LL - DSST - Introduction to Business
3 LL - CLEP - Introductory Business Law
3 UL - DSST - Business Law II
3 LL - DSST - Technical Writing

3 LL - CLEP - Information Systems & Comp Apps (Done March 2012)

3 UL - DSST - Here's To Your Health
3 LL - DSST* - Substance Abuse
6 LL - CLEP - Humanities
3 LL - DSST* - Foundations of Education
3 LL - DSST* - Fundamentals of Counseling
3 LL - CLEP - Principles of Marketing

1 LL - Excelsior - Information Literacy Requirement


Total Other Requirements: 61 Credits

Total Credit 121

+ Depth 1 - History
++ Depth 2 - Management/Organizational Leadership
* Exams that can be letter graded.

[IrishJohn]

If speed is your goal, why not go for a BALS through TESC or even follow Cookderosa's plan for a BA in Social Sciences?

Cookderosa's BA in Social Science - Degree Forum Wiki

You could test out completely without having to take a capstone. Of course you won't receive a GPA unless you take a course through TESC, which can be in almost anything, but if you don't need one why not?

[NAP]

This new plan looks good to me. You are understanding how to do this very well and can make adjustments as you progress with your exams.

I forgot to answer one of your questions in your first post. The enrollment fee is for one year of enrollment, so you can save some money by waiting until you are within a year of graduating to enroll. (Note that this works best if there aren't any policy changes while you wait to enroll. They have made many in the last few years, and hopefully, won't make any more in the near future. It can be a risk to not be enrolled.) When you enroll, they can double-check things like your second depth.

As I said in the other post, you can send them your scores at the time that you take the tests. If they keep them, you shouldn't have to pay extra to send the exam transcripts later.

Yes, keep an eye on the TESC option. We are waiting to hear if they will be requiring a capstone course for new enrollments as July 1st or not..... we'll see.

[jnewton]

I think where I am going (law school) I will need a GPA of some point. To me that is a big sticker point.

NAP thanks for the look over. I spent most of yesterday trying to understand it...and all of today tweeking it.

Where do I take the information literacy requirement cheaply...I've been hearing about it...but I haven't found anything yet.

I dont mind taking the capstone...they got to make some money somewhere.

[NAP]

You're welcome!

For Info Lit, try Penn Foster and LSU -

http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...tions.html